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Juan Toscano-Anderson reflects on his viral statement when he offended ACB and EuroLeague players
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- Juan Toscano-Anderson reflects on his viral statement when he offended ACB and EuroLeague players
Juan Toscano-Anderson spent five seasons in the NBA mostly as a role player, a classic 3-and-D forward, the kind of specialist every team needs. He declared for the 2015 NBA Draft but went undrafted, forcing him to carve his path to the world's strongest league through Mexican teams and the G League.
In 2020, after two years of grinding with the Santa Cruz Warriors, his dream finally came true. At 27 years old, Toscano-Anderson was called up by the Golden State Warriors and joined an NBA roster for the first time in his career.
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The pinnacle came in 2022, when he won an NBA championship with GSW alongside Stephen Curry . However, his stay with them didn't last long.
He later tried to stick in the league with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz , but spent most of his time bouncing between G League affiliates. During that stretch came the most controversial moment of his career.
A special G League team made up of top players was assembled to compete in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. In the final against Spain's Unicaja, the team suffered a disappointing 75–60 loss. In the heat of the moment, during a timeout, Toscano-Anderson delivered a speech that quickly went viral and has followed him ever since.
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"Our dream is not to play in the ACB, our dream is not to play in the f—ing EuroLeague. Our dream is to play in the NBA and make millions of dollars. What they are doing now is unacceptable."
Juan wanted to motivate his teammates
The Mexican-American forward was trying to motivate his teammates as an experienced NBA champion, but the way he expressed himself was widely criticized. Now, more than two years later, Toscano-Anderson addressed the entire situation in an exclusive interview with Basketball Network .
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"First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone that I may have offended, that was not my intention at all," Toscano-Anderson said humbly. "I think context is everything. I've been lucky enough to experience the business at a lot of different levels. I played in Mexico, played in the G League, got waived, been on two-way contracts, benched, started NBA games, in and out of the league. I've been waived maybe two or three times."
By that point, Toscano-Anderson was already in his 30s. He knew exactly how much work it had taken him to reach the NBA, and he didn't want his resume damaged by a loss to a team that wasn't even competing in the EuroLeague.
"I was out of the league during that time, trying to find my way back in and I was the oldest guy in that group," he added. "I was telling the guys that in competitions like this, especially for fringe NBA players like ourselves, you have to dominate. In this business, perception is everything. If you're a fringe NBA guy and you're getting outplayed by someone from Unicaja, scouts will look at that and say, 'Okay, this guy is better than you.'"
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Toscano-Anderson is aware of talent around the globe
It's clear that Toscano-Anderson today deeply regrets how everything unfolded and in a way, karma may have caught up with him. He now plays for Pallacanestro Trieste in Italy, competing in Serie A and the FIBA Champions League, both considered a tier below Spain's ACB League and the EuroCup.
Still, JTA is now fully aware of how much talent exists not only in Europe but across international basketball as a whole. The NBA's growing efforts toward an NBA Europe project only reinforce the idea that elite basketball is played well beyond U.S. borders.
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Later in the interview, Toscano-Anderson made another striking remark that resonated with many.
"It's just one of those things that I was saying in the locker room," he explained. "If we had a mic and a camera in every locker room or in every huddle, a lot of coaches would be fired. A lot of people would be caught saying different things."
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JTA tried to raise awareness
It's hard to disagree. The public truly knows very little about what happens behind closed doors, the conversations between teammates, the raw emotions and the methods used to push players to their limits. If everything were exposed, media narratives would often drift far away from basketball itself.
What ultimately matters is that JTA owned his mistake. His words weren't rooted in malice but in a misguided attempt to raise urgency and awareness among his teammates. At the core of his argument, that NBA scouts judge players harshly based on moments like these, there was, undeniably, a significant amount of truth.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
